Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) makes his directorial debut with Rosewater, which is released on DVD in the UK on 7th September 2015.
Released via The Works UK Distribution, Rosewater is a power and affecting film based on the true story of London-based Iranian Canadian journalist, Maziar Bahari, who was detained in Iran in 2009 while attempting to cover the presidential election. It is based on the memoir Then They Came for Me by Bahari and Aimee Molloy.
Rosewater stars Gael Garcia Bernal (No, The Motorcycle Diaries), Kim Bodnia (The Bridge), Shohreh Aghdashloo (24, House of Saddam) and Dimitri Leonidas (Monument’s Men). The film is produced by Scott Rudin, Jon Stewart and Gigi Pritzker.
Maziar Bahari was detained and brutally interrogated at Evin Prison for more than 100 days whilst his pregnant fiancée back in London campaigned tirelessly for his release. Recounting Bahari’s efforts to maintain his hope and his sanity in the face of isolation and persecution – through memories of his family, recollections of the music he loves and thoughts of his wife and unborn child – ROSEWATER is both a moving personal story and a tribute to those journalists who risk their freedom, and even their lives, to tell the true stories behind world-changing events.
Bahari’s imprisonment was connected to an interview he conducted on The Daily Show in 2009; Shortly before he was arrested, Bahari filmed an interview with The Daily Show’s Jason Jones, who had travelled to Iran to do a series of satirical pre-election reports about the Iranian people entitled “Behind the Veil.” While in prison, one of the things Bahari was questioned about was the interview with Jones, whom his interrogators labelled a spy. Jon Stewart has since joked that his reason for making the film is ‘borne out of a Jewish sense of guilt’.
Rosewater has picked up widespread critical acclaim and was selected as a Gala Presentation at both the Toronto International Film Festival and the 58th BFI London Film Festival.
